About Us

Staff Profiles - Chief Executive Officer

August 2, 2006

Mayor Jack Peake, Mayor of the Town of Lake Cowichan, and Chair of the newly formed Island Coastal Economic Trust, today announced the appointment of Al Baronas as Chief Executive Officer for the Island Coastal Economic Trust. Al will start work on September 1, 2006 in Courtenay, BC, the Trust's head office. The Trust's office will be located in 102-2435 Mansfield Drive Courtenay BC V9N 2M2.

Al Baronas brings many years of experience in regional economic development and urban revitalization from BC, the Prairies and in Latin America.

Most recently, Al was the Waterfront Projects Director at the Powell River Regional Economic Development Society. During the previous 10 years, Al was the president of Algis Consulting, which provided project development, business planning, fundraising, and marketing/communications services to public, private and non-profit organizations.

Al has extensive experience in setting up and managing arm's length public sector development organizations. He was involved in starting up and managing the North Portage Development Corporation and The Forks Renewal Corporation in Winnipeg, both development corporations whose shareholders include the federal, provincial and municipal governments.

Al helped to plan and create the Forks Renewal Corporation responsible for The Forks. Al was the vice-president and corporate secretary of the Forks for 7 years and helped launch many projects. The Forks transformed an abandoned rail yard at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine rivers to become the most popular attraction in Winnipeg with over 7 million visits annually.

Al has also worked many years for the Government of Canada in regional economic development including the northern prairies, rural Manitoba, and other provinces in Canada. He served as the Manitoba ARDA (Agriculture and Rural Development Act) coordinator, and worked on developing the Northern Manitoba Development Agreement, and the Winnipeg Core Area Initiative Agreement.

Originally educated in the Lower Mainland he is an honours graduate in Political Science from the University of British Columbia and completed his high school in Vancouver College.

Fluent in Spanish, Al worked with Canada's Sustainable Cities Initiative in San José, Costa Rica and in Valparaiso Viña del Mar, Chile, in developing joint strategies for urban revitalization, heritage, and downtown development. He also worked on local economic development strategies in Chile's Bio Bio region under the Canadian International Development Agency.

The North Island - Coast Development Initiative Trust (called the Island Coastal Economic Trust) was established by Provincial legislation on February 27, 2006. It provides $50-million that is managed by an independent board of directors made up of 8 locally elected government representatives and 5 provincially appointed members from the community. This board will make strategic investments in regional economic priorities such as forestry, transportation, tourism, mining, energy, projects related to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, agriculture, small business and other opportunities for economic diversification.

For further information call: Mayor Jack Peake Town of Lake Cowichan 250-749-6681